MEMORIAL SEMol: 



HENRY C. BROWN. 



iJLiBRARY, OF CONGRESS. 

" Shelf B7£7J M^ 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



MEMORIAL SERMONS 



BY ^ 

Rev. henry C. BROWN, 

Late editor of the " Mid-Continent," and the " American 
Home Magazi>e." 



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Cloth, .... 40 cents. 



For Sale by 

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THE LIBRARY 
OF CONGRESS 

WASHINGTON 



COPYRIGHT BY 

iHENRY C. BROWN, 

1893. 



MIZE & STEARNS 

"PRINTERS AND BOOK BINDERS 

CHICAGO 



PREFACE. 



At the request of the G. A. R. Post, of Centralia, 
IlHnois, I prepared and preached a memorial ser- 
mon in the Opera House, May 28, 1893. It was 
received with much favor, and many expressed a 
desire to see it pubHshed. Two weeks after I 
preached a second memorial sermon at the request 
of the I. O. O. F. This too was well received and I 
understand that both lodges have asked for its pub- 
lication. Whatever my own feelings may be in the 
matter, I have yielded to the urgent wish of my 
friends, and hope the readers of these pages may 
be as much interested as I was in the study of the 
themes of the discourses. When it was understood 
that I would publish them, S. G. Burdick, County 
Superintendent of Public Schools, and Major S. P. 
Tufts, publisher of the Daily Democrat, gave me the 
following testimonials : 

"Seldom do people have the opportunity of listening 
to such an address as the one delivered in the Opera House, 



4 PRKFACB. 

on Memorial Sunday, May 28, 1893. It was truly a patriotic 
gospel sermon, worthy of being read and re-read. Rev. H. 
C. Brown gave a soul stirring, patriotic sermon, full of 
pathos, eloquence and patriotism. The language was chaste 
and dignified. All who listened to it, and all who read it 
cannot but be better citizens, loving God and country more. 
Such lessons cannot but aid in making better patriots of the 
listeners, causing them to be more ready to yield obedience 
to law, and to be more willing to sacrifice property and life, 
if need be, in protecting the flag of our glorious country." 

S. G. BURDICK, 

Q. M. Wallace Post. 

'' The nth day of June, 1893, was set apart by the Odd 
Fellows of this city for their memorial exercises. The ad- 
dress for this occasion was delivered by Rev. H. C. Brown, 
pastor of the Congregational Church, at the morning hour. 
The theme was Fraternity, and the text: ''I/Ct brotherly 
love continue." The subject boundless in its depth and 
breadth was happily treated in the discourse. The first 
unfolding of the theme caught the attention of a large and 
interested audience, and brought into full sympathy and 
consideration the Brotherhood present. The adaptation of 
fraternity and brotherly love to the daily walks of life was 
made clear, and its presentation was eloquent and finished 
in its language and delivery, and it would have been cheered 
to the echo on another day and place. The membership of 
two lodges were present, and each lodge at a subsequent 
meeting unanimously endorsed the address and asked for 
its publication in a form for general use. On a subject so com- 
prehensive, and requiring much learning, study and brilliant 
talent to show best its bearing on social intercourse, to cap- 
ture completely a large and mixed audience, is certainly a 



PREFACE. 5 

high compliment to the orator. The fact that Mr. Brown 
did so is the cause for this friendly and well earned compli- 
ment to his learning and delivery. 

Respectfully, S. P. Tufts. 

In the preparation of the first of these discourses 
the author is indebted to Bancroft's "History of 
U. S." and his ^' Memorial Address on Abraham 
Lincoln ;" also to Headley's '' History of the Great 
Rebellion." Thinking they may furnish some facts 
not easily obtained elsewhere, and hoping they may 
serve as an inspiration in the effort to protect our 
liberties, and cultivate brotherly love, they are thus 
given to the public. 

HENRY C. BROWN. 



Divine Providence in the History of 
American Liberty. 



"And this day shall be unto you for a memorial." 

Ex. 12: 14.. 

A nation had been in bondage on the banks of 
the Nile. Born to a high destiny, and the inheri- 
tance of mighty promises, no people ever desired 
hberty more, or groaned worse under task-masters 
To them the pasover was a memorial of the birth 
of liberty. So to us this day will be a memorial of 
the price of liberty for a race, and the redemption 
of our country. Those of us who experienced the 
parting farewells when the soldiers went to the 
front, the shock of arms, the cloud of battle, and 
the broken ranks will remember this day. So to 
the scenes are fresh in memory of the return when 
the war was over ; the mingled joy and sorrow, joy 
at seeing loved ones again, and sorrow, because 
eager ^y^s failed to find the long looked for, who 
were left behind. 

That God rules in the affairs of men, that nations 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 7 

rise and fall at his behest, and that no government 
can long endure unless founded on righteous prin- 
ciples, are as true as that planets move, and seasons 
come and go. '^Righteousness exalteth a nation : 
but sin is a reproach to any people." Prov. 14. : j^. 
God's hand is on the nations. His purposes com- 
pass all events, working with continuity through the 
centuries, eliminating the evils from national life, and 
. engrafting righteousness on the body politic ; or fail- 
ing to remove the sin. He has hurled the rebellious 
down in confusion and ruin. Our country has 
passed one of the most crucial periods in human 
history, and struck from the national life the foul 
ulcer of slavery, at what cost we too well know ; 
but we have demonstrated our right to an enduring 
existence. 

Let us now consider where Divine Providence 
has touched the vital forces of this nation and shaped 
is destiny. At the right time when the human 
mind, which had long been struggling for liberty 
was about to burst out into light in the Reforma- 
tion, God was preparing a man in Genoa, Italy, to 
discover America, the future arena of its brightest 
realization. On this, the four hundredth anniver- 
sary of its discovery, we are interested in all that 



8 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

pertains to Columbus. Had the discovery been 
earlier, the land might have been divided into jeal- 
ous factions like Europe ; but great events converge 
to shed on the New World their select influence. 
In little more than a century the art of printing had 
been invented, the Reformation had waked up the 
sleeping centuries, America was discovered, and 
exiled liberty breathed the free air on Plymouth 
Rock. 

Columbus believed that lying to the west was an 
undiscovered region. His devout spirit caused him 
to hear the call of God, and hearing to press through 
reverses and hope deferred till he wins the goal. In 
his darkest hours he sought in the Scriptures to 
find evidence that the time had come to extend 
Christianity to the ends of the earth, and he 
regarded himself as the destined instrument of the 
Almighty to carry it. The fit time had come. 
When he was forsaken God was stirring up the 
hearts of kings. John II. of Portugal invited him 
to return, Henry VII. of England invites him to an 
interview, and Charles VIII. , of France desired too 
see him. 

It is a beautiful thought that the faith of a woman, 
Queen Isabelle, of Spain, opened up the way to the 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 9 

discoverer. When entreated to consider the appeal 
Ferdinand coldly replied that the exchequer was 
empty. Isabelle exclaimed, "I undertake the enter- 
prise for my own Crown of Castile, and I will pledge 
my jewels to raise the necessary funds." She was 
stripped of her jewels that our daughters might be 
decked with the gold of the Californias, and she 
will ever be crowned with more than an earthly 
diadem, the gratitude of a great people. 

Before starting Columbus and his crews received 
the sacrament, and August 3, 1492, set sail for un- 
known seas. Amid the perils of the deep, with 
mutiny on board, this one man, as if led by a Di- 
vine impulse, never wavered, but steadily looked 
toward the lands of the setting sun. After a voy- 
age of 71 days, October 12, 1492, the signal for 
land was fired. On landing, all knelt down, kissed 
the ground, with tears and thanks to God. 

It is one of the sad facts of history, that the 
greatest achievements, and the most deserving pub- 
lic servants often do not receive proper recognition 
during their lives. In old age the discoverer of 
America had no place to repair but an inn, and often 
nothing to pay for his sustenance, still his faith in 
God was as unwavering as his service had been to 



lo MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

mankind. Now after a period of four centuries the 
greatest of nations brings her grateful recognition 
in the presence of an assembly of all peoples, and 
amid splendors unparalleled at the Columbian Expo- 
sition in Chicago. 

Civil liberty can only find its highest enjoyment 
in a republic. Limited monarchies are only an 
approximation to it, and the more limited the bet- 
ter. It has taken all the centuries, with their les- 
sons of success and failure, to fit a people for self- 
government. God prepared our fore-fathers by the 
furnace of affliction, by the cultivation of the spirit 
of devotion, by the growth of the most sturdy 
Christian virtues ; under circumstances of great 
oppression and cruelty, till the desire for liberty led 
them to court exile, and to flee for deliverance to 
the shelter of the wilderness. Some form of gov- 
ernment was necessary, and they chose to do what 
had never been known beforfe on earth, and what 
was believed to be impossible by kings and states- 
men in Europe, establish a republic to reach across 
a continent. Republics heretofore had been limited 
to small cantons, or cities and their dependencies. 
Here the tree of liberty took deep root and its 
shadow became a shelter for the oppressed of all 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. ii 

lands. This golden period was not to burst sud- 
denly on an unprepared people. To do so would 
have been to fail. God's plan has been by slow 
processes to prepare for and execute His designs. 
Through millions of years He was preparing this 
world for an inhabitant. For thousands more by 
instruction and discipline the race was being fitted 
for the giving of the law, and then it took 1500 
years, giving a little at a time as men could receive 
it, before the human mind was ready to receive in 
its completeness, purity and inerancy the Word of 
God. When the apostles laid down their pens, all 
necessary truth, principles and laws for the govern- 
ing of men were in the world, but only as leaven 
which would require thousands of years to usher in 
the millenium. 

The love of liberty is as old as the race, but it 
has taken all this time to qualify man to exercise it. 
When influenced by righteous principles it is a 
Divine inspiration, without them it becomes a 
license for lawlessness and wrong. We as a people 
have reasons for profound gratitude to God that 
American liberty had its birth in a Christian col- 
ony, the Pilgrims. 

'' Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." His 



12 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

purposes are dark sometimes, but men must be 
trained. The Puritans of England had long been 
struggling for liberty of conscience, and the exer- 
cise of freedom in religious worship. The spirit of 
persecution raged against them, and they were pur- 
sued to their hiding places with relentless fury ; yet 
in all their distress they exhibited the intensest love 
for their native land. In 1606 a poor people in the 
north of England wasted by persecution, until the 
iron had entered into the body and soul, organized 
themselves into a church in Scrooby. Many, as 
they state, '' whose hearts the Lord had touched 
with heavenly zeal for His truth," resolved, " what- 
ever it might cost them, to shake off the anti-Chris- 
tian bondage, and, as the Lord's free people, to join 
themselves by a convenant into a church estate in 
the fellowship of the Gospel." Having now a loca- 
tion their enemies could more easily afflict them, 
until groaning for deliverance they hear Holland has 
*' freedom of religion for all men," and thither they 
were attracted. The departure brought much hazard 
and suffering. The first attempt failed. As if it 
were a crime to flee from persecution they came 
together in a secret meeting. When a part of the 
emigrants were being carried in a boat to the ship, 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 13 

a company or horsemen pursued and seized the 
helpless women and children who had not yet ven- 
tured on the surf. " Pitiful it was to see the heavy 
case of these poor women in distress ; what weep- 
ing and crying on every side." They could not be 
sent to their homes, for they had none ; so the mag- 
istrates at last let them go. Such was the flight of 
the Pilgrims from their native land. Now they 
were to esteem themselves as Pilgrims in the earth. 
They arrived at Amsterdam in 1608, little knowing 
that it was only the beginning of their wanderings. 
Their noble virtues now received recognition. The 
magistrates of the city wrote, " Never did we have 
any suit or accusation against any of them." 

They were moved by a desire to form an English 
colony, so they looked eagerly toward the western 
world. Every enterprise of the Pilgrims began from 
God, so when in 1620 they decided to embark for 
America a solemn fast was held. Said they, " Let 
us seek of God a right way for us, and for our little 
ones, and for our substance." Only a part, the 
younger ones, could go. This little company of 
exiles was organized into a self-governing church, 
and before landing from the Mayflower they formed 
the civil government for the colony after the form 



14 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

of the church. Thus civil and religious freedom, 
and self-government owe their existence to Chris- 
tian faith, emerging from the despotisms both of 
church and state in the old world. If New Eng- 
land had been colonized immediately on the discov- 
ery of America, the old English institutions with 
the Roman Catholic hierarchy would have been 
planted here, but God had a higher destiny for this 
country. Neither hereditary monarchy or aristoc- 
racy were entailed upon us, the only hereditary con- 
dition that fastened itself was slavery. The compact 
of the Pilgrim colony was the birth of constitutional 
liberty, and its destiny was to assert itself until the 
shackles should fall from every slave in our broad 
domain. On Monday, December ii, 1620, old 
style, our fore-fathers landed on Plymouth Rock. 
A grateful posterity marks the spot, historians and 
poets commemorate their virtues, while statesmen 
will never cease to eulogize their memory. Is it 
not remarkable, and is not the design of Providence 
clearly seen in the fact that this little colony has 
melted away the influence of every other settlement 
in America, and made its dominant principles the 
foundation of our national government. 

Self-government cannot be justly administered or 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 15 

long endure if in ignorant hands, so the founders 
of this country wisely said. Only a few years after 
the landing of the colony Harvard University was 
founded, to be followed by Yale college. Thus be- 
gun that system of education which now brings to 
every son and daughter in this land the privilege 
of intellectual training as an equipment for the use 
of the franchise, and the duties of life. July 20, 
1629, a pastor was chosen by a vote of the church 
in Salem. Thus originated the ballot in America. 
Since then as quietly as the falling snow it has 
created political revolutions, and shaped the destiny 
of our country. 

One of their number was to outstrip them all in 
asserting the great doctrine of intellectual freedom. 
Roger Williams was exiled for this belief, and it 
became his glory to found a state on this principle, 
Rhode Island, on the Narragansett Bay. The place 
where Williams landed he called Providence, for 
said he, ''I desired it might be for a shelter for per- 
sons distressed for conscience." Nothing is more 
touching than what he said of his New England 
brethren who had driven him out from them. He 
said, '' I did ever, from my soul, honor and love them, 
even when their judgment led them to afflict me." 



i6 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

Still persecution was raging in England, only to 
give strength to this Puritan colony, and in large 
numbers they fled to join their friends in America. 
Nothing but the wide ocean and wilderness could 
shield them from the fury of the bishops. Thus 
persecution, the dungeon, pillory, and scaffold were 
stages in the progress of liberty. 

Though the spirit of liberty had been enjoyed 
by the colonies, and was esteemed an inalienable 
right, yet on the slightest pretext the king of Eng- 
land would express them, adopting measures to 
crush out the exercise of the rights of freemen, 
rights always hated by tyrants. American patriots 
were arrested on trifling excuses, denied trial by 
juries of their countrymen, and transported beyond 
the sea to be condemned and punished. The 
colonies were taxed as the subjects of Great Britain, 
but denied the right of representation. They had 
been loyal to the mother country, but a series of 
usurpations and oppressions, which threatened 
their liberties, the most sacred right of an American 
citizen, turned the tide of popular feeling, and 
brought on the Revolution. Washington w^as 
being prepared to lead our armies, and at the right 
time this man of sterling virtues, of wise plans. 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 17 

mighty action, and unwavering faith in God, led 
them through repeated reverses to the final victory. 
Now in grateful memory we honor him as ''The 
father of his country." 

In the settlement of Virginia popular freedom 
became inseparable with the life and state of society. 
This asylum of liberty became by a strange contra- 
diction the abode of bondsmen, not by the consent 
of its people, but through the mercantile avarice of 
a foreign nation, and it was subsequently riveted by 
the policy of England. Our ancestors forecast the 
portentious future. A West Jersey Quaker wrote: 
''This trade of importing slaves is dark gloominess 
hanging over the land ; the consequences will be 
grievous to posterity." More than one hundred 
years ago the legislature of Virginia addressed the 
king of Great Britain, saying that the slave trade 
was "of great inhumanity," opposed- to the "security 
and happiness" of the people, " would in time have 
the most destructive influence" and "endanger 
their very existence." The king answered that 
" upon pain of his highest displeasure, the importa- 
tion of slaves should not in any respect be ob- 
structed." 

Franklin wrote, " Pharisaical Britain, to pride 



i8 MBMORIAIv S:^RMONS. 

thyself in setting free a single slave that happened 
to land on thy coasts, while thy laws continue a 
traffic whereby so many hundred thousands are 
dragged into a slavery that is entailed on their 
posterity." Patrick Henry said in 1773/* A serious 
view of this subject gives a gloomy prospect to 
future times." Jefferson branded the slave-trade as 
pirarcy, and placed in the Declaration of Independ- 
ence as its corner-stone: ''AH men are created 
equal, with an unalienable right to liberty." After 
wrestling with insurmountable difficulties in an 
effort to secure emancipation he wrote these despair- 
ing words : '* I tremble for my country when I 
reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot 
sleep forever." Washington hoped that emancipa- 
tion might prevail, and set the example by liberating 
his slaves. 

The illustrious men of the Revolution passed 
away. A new generation came, who blinded by 
the prospect of gain and luxurious ease, passed by 
all considerations of its inhumanity and injustice, 
and sought a pretext for its perpetuity. They said : 
*' Why take black men from a civilized and Ghris- 
trian country, where their labor is a source of im- 
mense gain, and a power to control the markets of 



MEMORIAIv SERMONS. 19 

the world, and send them to a land of ignorance, 
idolatry, and indolance, which was the home of 
their forefathers, but not theirs ? Slavery is a bles- 
sing. Were they not in their ancestral land naked, 
scarcely lifted above brutes, ignorant of the course 
of the sun, controlled by nature ? And in their new 
abode have they not been taught to know the dif- 
ference of the seasons, to plow, and plant, and reap, 
to drive oxen, to tame the horse, to exchange their 
scanty dialect for the richest of all the languages 
among men, and the stupid adoration of follies for 
the purest religion ? And since slavery is good for 
the blacks, it is good for their masters, bringing 
opulence and the opportunity of educating a race. 
The slavery of the black is good in itself; he shall 
serve the white man forever." In the light of his- 
tory we say, '' The logic of selfishness." 

The influence of religion had broken up the slave 
markets at Bristol, at Hamburg, at Lyons, and at 
Rome; so the spirit of the Pilgrims was to set in 
motion an agitation ultimately to result in emanci- 
pation, or in driving to madness its opposers. Only 
seventeen years after the landing of the Pilgrims in 
New England, the home of the free, slaves were 
imported and sold. Throughout Massachusetts a 



20 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

cry was raised against *' such vile and most odious 
courses, abhorred of all good and just men." 
Through a long period of agitation, always gaining, 
the shackles were struck from every slave in our 
northern territory. In the south the sentiment in 
favor of slavery was rapidly gaining in the mean- 
time. To protect it legislation must be controlled, 
and its friends believed that its security depended 
on the power of the South to dictate the policy of 
the general government in regard to it. A compro- 
mise line running westward parallel with the south- 
ern boundary of Missouri was to limit the slave ter- 
ritory. The rapidity with which northern states 
were coming into the Union, with a prospect of the 
transfer of the control of the government to the 
North, alarmed the South, and thus arose the nulifi- 
cation theory; that a state has a right to reject any 
legislation of the general government which it may 
deem inimical to its interest. The steps were then 
easy by a logical sequence from such a premise for 
an acceptance of all the abominable doctrines ( f 
sedition which followed. If the general govern- 
ment has no right to enact a law affecting a state 
without its consent, then it must concede to the 
state the superior right. If that is admitted, then 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 21 

they having come into the Union by their own con- 
sent have a right to secede at will. Thus they 
reasoned. Calhoun on his death-bed counseled 
secession. 

The limitation of slavery was transfering the con- 
trol of the government to the northern states. Hop- 
ing to extend slavery further north, the South became 
clamorous for the removal of the compromise line. 
A northern man, Mr. Douglas, secured its repeal. No 
sooner was it done than the South became appalled 
at the result, for they saw that in a fair race for the 
new territories the North would win. At this junc- 
ture the Chief Justice of the United States came to 
the rescue of slavery, and announced an opinion 
that would carry slavery into every state and terri- 
tory of the Union. He stated that the slave was 
property, and as such his owner had a right to carry 
him into any state or territory. He went further 
and asserted what was unknown to any law prev- 
iously existing, that there are "slave-races." From 
his decision there was no appeal but to history and 
the bar of God. With the state of things then ex- 
isting there could be no harmony. Lincoln said, 
*' This Union cannot permanently endure half slave 
and half free ; the Union will not be disolved, but 



22 MEMORIAL SER.MONS. 

the house will cease to be divided." Prophetic 
words. 

A gigantic conspiracy was forming in the South. 
They saw that if the democracy should unite on 
Mr. Douglas he w^ould be elected president, so the 
party was divided and two candidates were put in 
the field. Mr. Lincoln was nominated by the repub- 
licans and elected. This was what the enemies of 
our country wanted, and furnished the pretext for 
secession. Conventions were being called, and state 
after state were flying madly from their orbits when 
Mr. Lincoln took the reins of government. He 
fully comprehended the difficulty of his position. 
In his farewell address on leaving Springfield, Ills., 
he said: '' I know not how soon I shall see you 
again. A duty has devolved upon me greater than 
that which has devolved upon any other man since 
Washington. He never would have succeeded except 
for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he al- 
w^ays relied. On the same Almighty Being I place 
my reliance. Pray that I may receive that Divine 
assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with 
which success is certain." The people responded, '' We 
will pray for you." Under cover of darkness he trav- 
eled and entered Washington to escape assassination. 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 23 

Men were counseling separation when the fourth 
of March came. Wiser than his compeers he 
planted himself firmly on the one idea of Union in 
his inaugural address. Only seven days later the 
Confederate States adopted a constitution of their 
own, announcing the idea that the negro race is a 
slave race. 

The South, which had been the aggressor, begun 
the most gigantic and inexcusable war known to 
hitory, on April 12, 1 861, by the bombardment of 
Ft. Sumter, compelling its evacuation. In quick 
succession scenes unparalled in history followed, 
while the world stood in awe wondering at the 
accomplishment of feats which surpassed all records 
of conflicts, or the conception of the world's most 
renowed heroes. Theirs had been for glory and to 
satisfy ambition, but this was to enthrone liberty. 
*' Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all 
the inhabitants thereof" 

The men of the North had not been trained to 
war, but had long cultivated the arts of peace. 
Trained in schools, finely bred, with their minds 
full of plans for the pursuits of science, the arts, and 
the industries of the country, they had not thought 
of the possibilities of war. But our flag had been 



24 MKMORIAIv SERMONS. 

fired on, trailed in the dust,^ and dishonored. Hear- 
ing their country's call, theological students, whose 
lips had been touched with a live coal from the 
skies; mere boys fi'om the colleges, who gave their 
mothers a parting kiss for a separation of a few 
weeks, sprang to arms for the stern duty of their 
country's defence. Men left the professions, me- 
chanics left their benches, and farmers with their 
sons left the half-plowed fields, all marching in solid 
columns to the front. In many cases the mothers 
and daughters cultivated the fields and reaped the 
harvests. 

Great Britain could not repress its joy at our dis- 
comfiture. They thought the visionary experiment 
of a republic was now vanishing. To add to our 
distress she hastened to recognize the Confederacy. 
Her ships preyed on our commerce. We had 
always desired peace with England, but now we 
were almost without friends among the ruling 
classes. The working men were always our friends. 
God had given America the greatest preacher of 
the century, Henry Ward Beecher, a true descend- 
ant of the Puritans. He went to England, took the 
platform, facing hisses, the surging mobs, and the 
raging populace, instigated by our enemies. With 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 25 

more than human eloquence he plead for the sake 
of humanity and the principles of righteousness that 
England should not interfere. Opposition became 
powerless before him, a few speeches turned the tide 
of feeling, and he left the British lion as gentle as a 
lamb. 

The world is now learning that the great Amer- 
ican conflict was for the establishment of liberty 
throughout all nations. As the American flag is 
unfurled in the ports of the world, the lovers of 
freedom look upon it with longing eyes, and 
breathe a prayer for our country from their lands 
far away. 

That we should engage in a war of much mag- 
nitude looked like vanity to the statesmen of Eu- 
rope. While they mocked, our people loaned the 
government twenty-seven and a half million dollars, 
our navy in eight months established a blockade 
from Cape Hatteras to the Rio Grande, and we en- 
listed about two million men. In six hundred and 
twenty-five battles blood flowed like water. 

''When Greek meets Greek then comes the tug 
of war." Greater heorism was never witnessed on 
earth before, nor did ever an army face such a foe. 
That fifteen millions should hold at bay twenty-five 



26 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

millions for a period of four years shows the valor 
of the enemy. Never was truth couched in more 
fitting language than in Grant's reply to Lee at the 
final surrender at Richmond. Lee handed his 
sword to Grant saying, '' conquered." Grant re- 
plied, '' No, over-powered." 

The best of all the Czars of Russia .was on the 
throne at the time of the war. He had liberated 
twenty million serfs, and he proved our unwavering 
friend. We do not forget it. Prince Kung closed 
the ports of China against the war- ships of the re- 
bellion. I am fearful we do not remember that as 
well. 

Five thousand clergymen went with the soldiers. 
Nor were our soldiers denied the gentle ministries 
of woman. She was in the hospitals, and wherever 
her hand could relieve she was found on her mis- 
sion of love. 

A duel was to be fought on the sea which was to 
make all the navies of the world as helpless as toy 
ships at the mercy of the storm, and revolutionize 
naval warfare. For some time a most formidable 
vessel, the ram Merrimac, had been building. All 
above the water was shielded by railroad iron. 
There was no provision to meet this monster, ex- 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 27 

cept a little iron-clad, the Monitor, just launched at 
New York. On the morning of March 8, 1863, 
the ponderous Merrimac steamed out on the bay at 
Hampton Rhodes. Near Newport News lay the 
Congress and Cumberland on blockade duty. 
When within a mile the Cumberland began firing, 
but the shot glanced harmlessly fii-om the mailed 
surface, and the Merrimac did not deign to notice 
it. Coming near she sent a shot through the Cum- 
berland, killing half a dozen men. In three-quar- 
ters of an hour the Cumberland and its noble crew, 
with colors flying, went down together. Only a 
half hour was needed to cause the Congress to 
strike her colors. Night came on and the work of 
destruction was suspended. Where will this end ? 
was the question on many anxious lips. Our entire 
blockade was like paper. Nothing stood in the 
way of this formidable vessel, and it could go on 
till all our navy was blown from the waves, and 
even New York city was without protection. All 
hope sunk at Fortress Monroe, and nothing re- 
mained but the most gloomy forebodings. Just 
then a strange looking little vessel, the Monitor, 
came round the point from New York. Its appear- 
ance was like a mere raft, with a revolving turret, 



28 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

carrying but two guns. After its arrival at the fort 
a short consultation was held and it was agreed 
that it should go and help the Minnesota, which 
was hard aground. At eleven o'clock it went to 
the rescue. Morning arrived bright and beautiful, 
and the Merrimac lay at a distance. She started 
slowly for the grounded vessel, when the Monitor 
steamed out from behind, boldly advancing to meet 
her antagonist. At first the Merrimac took no no- 
tice of the little thing which crossed her path; but 
first sent a shot against the Minnesota. Changing 
her mind she sent a hundred pound ball at the Mon- 
itor. The latter replied by sending a two hundred 
pound shot against the Merrimac near her water 
line, causing her to stagger under its tremendous 
force, and for the first time she realized what an 
adversary she had to contend with, and gave her 
undivided attention. For nearly two hours the ter- 
rible duel lasted. They closed on each other muz- 
zle to muzzle, hailing their heavy metal on each 
others sides, w^hile the smoke wrapped them in a 
cloud. The Merrimac having been foiled in every 
attempt, resolved to make one desperate effort to 
sink the Monitor, and she drove straight at her with 
a full head of steam. She glided harmlessly up on 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 29 

the sheathed deck Hke a runner, exposing her hull 
below the iron casing. Immediately the Monitor 
sent one of her ponderous shots crashing through 
the vessel, completely disabling her, and she aban- 
doned the conflict. Signaling for help, tugs came 
and took the Merrimac in tow to Norfolk. It looked 
like a Providence as the news was flashed over the 
land, that just at the right time God interposed to 
save our fleet. Not only so, but it paralyzed the 
navies of the world. An English statesman said on 
the floor of Parliament that we had one vessel which 
could sink all their war ships. 

However much man may esteem compromises, 
wise in the adjustment of difficulties, God never ac- 
cepts them or gives them the least sign of approval. 
The eternal principles of rectitude alone receive His 
support. At the beginning of the war no thought 
was entertained of liberating the slaves, but simply 
to limit slavery to the states in which it then 
existed, and compel the states in rebellion to remain 
in the Union. God hid His face from us and we 
were troubled. The fortunes of war largely turned 
against us. At last seeing that the slaves at home 
were producing the supplies for the Confederate 
forces, their emancipation was declared to be a 



so MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

military necessity. Accordingly January i, 1863, 
the fetters fell from three million slaves. From 
that time success attended our arms, and we won 
nearly every battle. Mr. Lincoln said: ''The eman- 
cipation policy and the use of colored troops were 
the greatest blows yet dealt to the rebellion ; the 
job was a great national one, and let none be slighted 
who bore an honorable part in it." As God smiled 
on our right choice, so the spontaneous sympathy 
of the best men of all nations turned toward us, 
and their writers waked up the consciences of 
mankind. 

The great battles of Fort Donelson, Chattanooga, 
Malvern Hill, Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilderness 
of Virginia, Winchester, Nashville, the capture of 
New Orleans, Vicksburg, Mobile, Fort Fisher, the 
march from Atlanta, and the capture of Savannah 
and Charleston, all foretold the issue. As an arrow 
goes to its mark, so the death-blow was struck to 
the rebellion. After the conflict was ended on the 
field, and the soldiers had returned to the quiet pur- 
suits of home, and sober reflection had asserted it- 
self, the best men in the South generally were satis- 
fied with the results. While I was editor of the 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 31 

''American Home Magazine" a distinguished south- 
ern gentleman wrote a series of articles for it, enti- 
tled, '' Reminiscences of Virginia." In them he 
stated that ''A desire for the return of the old times 
of slavery finds no place in the great heart of the 
south." When Mr. Bain, the great temperance 
orator of Kentucky, was lecturing in Kansas City, 
he said, '' At the time of the war I believed with 
the South that the two great sections ought to be 
divorced, but now after traveling throughout this 
great country, north and south, and seeing its 
mighty resources, I am glad the bill was not 
granted." These men know as well and express as 
correctly as any can the sentiment of the best men 
of the South. 

If to-day you have been led to see the Providence 
of God in the great events of our national history, 
and the enthroning of liberty, then the object of 
this discourse will have been secured. 

Many, very many, were not permitted to see the 
day of final victory ; some saw it from afar. The 
prince of the host fell at the assassin's hand just as 
the golden beams of victory had flooded the land, 
and we crowned him '*the Saviour of his country." 



32 MKMORIAIv SKRMONS. 

Some of these heroes are in unknown graves in the 
South, others in our national cemeteries, while many 
are lying where loving hands yearly strew their 
graves with the beautiful tribute of memory, the 
garlands of flowers. 



FRATERNITY. 



"Let brotherly love continue." Heb. /j : /. 

A fraternity is a brotherhood, and to be fraternal 
is to act brotherly. The cultivation of this spirit 
is necessary to that large and generous nature, es- 
sential to the best type of manhood; one raised 
above being influenced by small prejudices. He 
may belong to another church, yet bearing the 
image of my Father, he is my brother. Our opin- 
ions may vary, our tastes differ, our inclinations 
may separate us in the pursuits and amusements of 
life, yet on the broad platform of brotherly love we 
clasp hands, and stand shoulder to shoulder, with a 
large charity, and in essential unity. 

The tendency in society life of the best order, 
and among churches is towards greater fraternity. 
To what extent lodges of the different fraternal or- 
ders have contributed to that end it is hard to deter- 
mine, but it is certain they have done much. I can 
remember the time when a minister could increase 
his popularity by severely criticising another denom- 



34 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

ination, and holding its weak points up to ridicule ; 
now no cultivated and intelligent congregation will 
listen to such a man. At one time the controversy 
against secret societies was at a white heat, but 
now it has subsided till their opposers at most will 
only shake the head doubtfully. It is the mission 
of fraternity to melt the shackles of prejudice, and 
proclaim the freedom of the human mind. 

Love is essential to a true brotherhood. Frequent 
meetings cultivate it. It is noticeable in social 
gatherings that friendships spring up and ripen, 
and in churches if we frequently see each other's 
face it becomes a delight. Any one who prizes his 
lodge or his church cannot afford to be absent 
except in extreme cases, for absence loosens the 
golden cord of affection. Every person before 
staying away should count the costs. It breaks 
up your own attachments and interest, induces lax 
habits, and causes you to care less for your associ- 
ates, or the church. If it has such an effect on 
you, certainly you should not be surprised if others 
lose an interest in you, and when you do attend it 
is unreasonable for you to expect all that cordiality 
awarded to a faithful and regular attendant. Good 
reasons sometimes exist for absence, but the effect 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 35 

on others will be the same ; it is a law of our 
nature. In your absence they cease to think so 
much about you, and, of course, wall in the end care 
less for you. Before habitually absenting yourself 
study well whether or not your excuse will out- 
weigh the inevitable loss you must sustain. 

All acts performed through love become easy 
and a pleasant task, a natural result of brotherly 
love. There are many duties which of themselves 
are great burdens, but love makes them light ; 
while its absence makes them unendurable. A 
noble soul rises at the call of duty, impelled by a 
generous nature, which rejoices in the trials which 
will set at liberty a struggling brother, and throw 
light through the darkness of another's life. 

No organization based on the idea of fraternity 
can exist long and prosper unless its essential 
features tend to cultivate enduring friendships. All 
organizations not thus constituted have had a 
tumultuous existence and then passed away, or if 
of recent date they are now in the storm. Those 
conditions of mutual helpfulness must be present, 
and must be conducted with fairness toward all 
others, which add to one's comfort, and minister 
to one's social enjoyment in order to give perma- 



36 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

nency. Nor can it take a turn which is tinged in 
the least with selfishness. 

Those churches prosper the most which through 
mission boards and the great benevolent societies 
feel most the throbbings of the heart of the great 
world. Some have chosen to ignore this claim, 
in every case to paralyze their own energies and 
arrest their growth. This is a well recognized 
truth. 

Wesley said, *'The world is my parish," and the 
Methodist church arose with its mighty world-wide 
agencies. 

One branch of the Baptist family of churches 
assumed as a distinguishing characteristic the name 
'' Missionary," and it has outstripped all the others 
in the race. 

Those who do most for the world do most for 
themselves. The nations which have sent out the 
Christian missionaries and expended most in 
heathen lands have found their ships returning 
freighted with more than a hundred fold of material 
wealth. Christ said, " Go ye into all the world," 
and those who thus understand their commission, 
will not only have a larger and more generous 
nature, but will enjoy the greater prosperity. 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 37 

When Robert Morris made his tour of the Holy 
Land he stopped on his way to visit a lodge in one 
of the cities of Greece. In his remarks to the 
members he said, that when a boy he heard of the 
famine in Greece. He had then one dollar, the 
first and only dollar he had ever earned, and he 
gave it all. When they heard it they would have 
carried him on their shoulders, if he had permitted 
it. It was the best investment of his life. So it 
must ever prove true, that while we are to organize 
for mutual help, benefit, and usefulness, the highest 
success is reserved for those whose plans compass 
the world. 

Harmony is essential to fraternity. Here all 
invidious distinctions of society must vanish, and 
you must be on a common level, otherwise there 
can be no harmony. It is your province to lift up 
the brother of low degree, but in no case are you to 
lower your standards. A church which carries the 
distinctions of social life to its sacred altars justly 
receives the censure of all good and just men, and 
so must it be with you if you stumble on that fatal 
rock. The world needs lifting, and every church, 
and every school, and every fraternal society, are 
to bear on* this mighty lever of moral and social 



38 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

reform, till all who desire to rise shall stand at last 
complete in Him on the heavenly hills. 

A broad, liberal and charitable spirit must be 
extended towards those who differ from you in 
opinion, if you dwell together in harmony. There 
must practically be no such distinctions existing 
among you as Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, or 
Congregationalist ; nor should political differences, 
such as Democrat or Republican exist, but you are 
all brothers. 

An extreme case illustrative of this occurred 
during the late war. A Union soldier was lying in 
the road wounded during a battle, unable to move 
himself. He heard the artillery teams of the enemy 
coming at great speed, and in a few minutes he 
expected to be crushed to death. Belonging to a 
fraternal order he made the sign of distress just as 
the head driver came in sight. Recognizing it and 
without checking speed he went dashing round 
through the brush, all the other teams following, and 
the soldier was saved. The captain wanted to know 
why they went through ^the woods when a good 
road lay before them, but it remained to him a 
mystery, and had he been too severe in his treat- 
ment of the driver there would have been objections 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 39 

in unexpected quarters. When that signal was 
seen the blue and the gray were brothers. 

Factions breed strife and destroy the essential 
element of fraternity, love. '' If ye bite and devour 
one another, take heed that ye be not consumed 
one of another." This is true in churches, and in 
the close relations of these fraternal orders it means 
disintegration and ruin. 

Plans for the well-being of all must be carried 
out, and if all are benefitted, they will be drawn 
together. Mutual interests serve to cement a 
society. When an order ceases to benefit, it will 
cease to live. Progress along the lines which 
develop the best traits of personal character, and 
bring to each individual member material, intel- 
lectual, and moral help, is as essential to health in 
the lodge, as growth is necessary to the life and 
health of the tree. 

It must benefit without abridging the rights of 
others who do not happen to belong to its member- 
ship. Not to do so will cause an interminable con- 
flict which will ultimately destroy the one in the 
wrong. That which has a right to an existence 
must demonstrate it by occupying a place not filled 
by others, and not by crowding others out who 



40 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

have pre-occupied the ground. No organization 
can long exist which is founded on the principle 
of tearing down or discriminating against others 
in order to advance its interests. As I understand 
these great orders, which have long existed, they 
have carefully guarded against such a mistake. 
Sometimes it is the shortsighted error of a local 
lodge, but it soon learns a severe lesson. Orders 
constituted w^ith a view to greater advantage will 
find that when they avail themselves of it to the 
detriment of those, who having equal rights are 
less protected, will in the end have to face a reaction 
destructive to the peace and happiness of its 
members. 

Some churches have sought to build up by 
spending much time in finding fault with others. 
They had to abandon that course, or have a feeble 
existence and rapidly disappear. Some good and 
useful members of the church have become dis- 
pleased at something, and have made themselves 
busy in running about under pledges of secrecy 
trying to injure another, only to find their own 
spiritual life blighted, their tempers soured, and in 
the end bring down on themselves the just con- 
demnation of the church and the community. 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 41 

*' There is nothing covered, that shall not be 
revealed." 

A brotherhood should contemplate mutual pro- 
tection against injustice and wrong. This should 
extend to their families. Among the members 
there must be a conviction that in every right 
cause they will have the united support of the 
order, and that they will receive the solid influence 
and help of all the brotherhood in resisting all 
unjust attacks. This is the legitimate fruit of 
brotherly love. 

In exercise it finds many beautiful examples. 
A young lady was far from home and among 
strangers teaching school. She was discreet and 
cautious, and though beautiful she tried to make 
the number of intimate friends as limited as pos- 
sible, yet it did not protect her from serious trouble. 
Her charms won the love of a young man who 
belonged to a very influential family; still she did 
not esteem him a fit companion for her, and when 
he asked her hand she declined, a right of choice 
which every true lady should exercise. In revenge 
he then started a slanderous report against her. 
It broke up the school and the poor girl was in 
sore distress. Among strangers, with the strong 



42 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

force of that influential family assailing her, she 
found herself without friends; so at last she said to 
herself : '* My father belongs to the lodge at home, 
and I have the ladies degree, and I will see if there 
is not justice for even me." So she sent for the 
chief officer of the lodge in the place, and laid the 
case before him. The lodge made a careful investi- 
gation of the matter, satisfied itself that it was a 
case of malicious slander, and then appointed a 
committee to further attend to the business. That 
committee drew up a statement that the reports 
were malicious and false, went to the young man 
and said : *' See here young man, you have lied 
about that young lady, and we have tracked it 
down. Now sir, get down and sign this paper or 
you have got just seventy-five of us to deal with." 
He signed it. 

I do not understand that lodges bind their mem- 
bers to protect and defend a member who has done 
wrong, or shield him in any way from justice. A 
young man who was very bright in the work of a 
lodge, and popular, became guilty of a very offen- 
sive crime. He was pursued with relentless vigor 
by the members of that lodge, and to the ends of 
the earth. 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 43 

I see no objection to taking an oath or pledge 
to do what is right. It don't hurt a good man^ 
and it helps a bad man to do better. The oath has 
proved a wholesome restraint to men who w^ere 
not Christians, and who did not feel more than 
a feeble, if at all any moral restraint. There are 
lodges throughout the world, and some can be 
found even among savage tribes. A white man 
was taken prisoner by the Indians. The chief had 
called together his tribe, the circle was formed, and 
the dance was in progress, preparatory to putting 
the victim to death by the most cruel torture. 
Having learned that some Indians belonged to 
these orders, the man made the sign of distress, his 
only hope. Recognizing it the chief stopped the 
proceedings, and looking straight at the man said : 
'' Me want to kill you but me cant." The language 
of a true brotherhood is the same in every land, it 
checks the passions of evil persons, and unites in 
generous and noble deeds the good and true 
throughout the world. 

It is often a help to others for a good man to 
sign a pledge. I have signed the temperance pledge 
whenever I could get a chance, not for my sake, but 
for others, fjr I never drank intoxicating liquors. 



44 MEMORIAIv SERMONS. 

There is a higher duty than to self, and it is 
only when the soul lives for others that it tastes 
the pleasures of heavenly birth. A true fraternity 
contemplates a philanthrophy which will bring it in 
touch wuth distress throughout its ranks. But 
some object that to make a specialty of one's own 
organization tends to selfishness. Such is not the 
case. Those who do the most in the special 
benevolencies of the lodges and churches are the 
ones depended on everywhere to do most for the 
needs of the world. Institutions for orphans are 
founded, and the loneliness of widowhood is re- 
lieved by the sweet sympathy of the brotherhood, 
and those ministries which lighten terrible burdens. 

Our earthly pilgrimage is beset with dangers, 
and at no part of the journey are we free from 
exposure. When misfortune overtakes us we want 
friends, and especially is help needed when far 
from home. A lady whose home was in Burling- 
ton, Iowa, having made a trip east, was in a terrible 
railroad accident while returning through Indiana. 
Badly injured, bruised, much of her clothes torn 
from her body, and her pocket book lost, she was 
taken in that condition to the hotel. Her injuries 
were hastily dressed, for many others needed atten- 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 45 

tion, and she was left to suffer alone. As she sat 
there with her hands tied up, almost helpless, 
faint, weak and sinking, and no friends in hundreds 
of miles, she knew that a few hours of neglect 
might prove fatal to her. She thought, " Well I 
am in a pretty fix.'' Then I suppose she had a 
good hearty cry, which often brings relief, "relief 
in tears." In this case it brought a happy thought. 
" Now ;' she said, " I will see if there is any good 
in the ladies degree," so she sent for the chief 
officer of the lodge. He came and satisfied him- 
self that she was a true sister and left. In a short 
time several ladies called, and they took this poor, 
distressed woman, dressed her wounds, put on her 
good clothing, furnished attendants, and left her as 
comfortable as possible. As soon as she could 
travel an officer came in, put ;^ioo in her hands, 
and she was started home. After reaching home, 
her husband, who was a merchant, wrote a letter to 
the lodge in Indiana, enclosing ^200, saying, '';^ioo 
is for the money furnished my wife, and the other 
;gioo is to use as you please. I see you know 
how to use money." 

A lawyer came to Jesus, and said, '' Who is my 
neighbor?" 



46 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

"And Jesus answering said, A certain man went 
down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among 
thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and 
wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 
And by chance there came down a certain priest 
that way ; and when he saw him, he passed by on 
the other side. And likewise a Levite, w^hen he 
was at the place, came and looked on him, and 
passed by on the other side. But a certain 
Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, 
and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. 
And he went to him, and bound up his wounds, 
pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own 
beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care 
of him. And on the morrow when he departed, 
he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, 
and said unto him, take care of him; and whatso- 
ever thou spendest more, when I come again, I 
will repay thee. Which, now of these three, think- 
est thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among 
the thieves ? 

"And he said, He that showed mercy on him. 
Then said Jesus unto him, Go and do likewise." 
— Luke lo: 2g-jy. 

However grand the purposes aimed at by these 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 47 

fraternal societies, they cannot be a substitute for 
Christianity, nor can they shine, except as they 
reflect the sublime ideals of the Word of God. 
Our reviews have been proposing remedies for the 
social evils of life, and receipts for the ills of the 
human race. From some you would think that 
plenty of beef-steak, clothing, and good homes were 
all that is needed ; but where Christ is left out all 
these things are emptiness and vanity. Rev. Wal- 
lace Nutting says the following very pointed things : 
"To read some of the modern propositions for 
the redemption of society, one would think that the 
ultimate destiny of man was to take the prize for 
weight. I see that in two books by English authors, 
which I have read in the last two weeks, men's 
meals are spoken of as their feed. Does the roast 
beef make the man? Some have tried to make us 
think so. The nations that produced the Old and 
New Testaments were very temperate in eating and 
drinking. >k * * j ^^^^ affirm that good homes, 
good food, and good clothes never caused righteous 
lives ; but that righteous living produces good 
homes, food and clothing. Suppose you could put 
all the families in the world into comfortable homes, 
insure them moderately against sickness and death, 



48 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

give them all work, and plenty to eat and wear, 
would you have an ideal society? Nay, suppose 
you could add to these things libraries and art gal- 
leries, and time to enjoy them, will society move 
smoothly and the balance wheel of life keep its 
proper adjustment? 

*' Plenty has not been found, according to the 
verdict of history, a way of salvation. All grades 
of society furnish their quotas of bad men. Even 
the English nobility, surrounded by every con- 
venience, in the way of restored castles and good 
roast beef, are furnishing some first-class villians. 
We want people to be comfortable, and we give 
money for that purpose, but it is unhappily not true 
that a comfortable man is a good man. It is un- 
doubtedly true that a great degree of social vice is 
traceable to want ; but the worst state of society 
that ever was — the courts of Charles II., of Louis 
XIV., of the Borgian Popes, of Elagabulus, of 
Pericles, of Solomon, of Belshazzar, were all about 
as bad as they could be. But these all had plenty 
of everything that is proposed as the remedy of 
sin, by the essayists in the reviews — all except, and 
how great is the exception — a true philanthropy. 

'' Vice breeds upon want. Supply the want, and 



MEMORIAL SERMONS. 49 

it breeds on plenty. Holy lives arise out of the 
very dust, and from earl's palaces. Some of the 
greatest philanthropists of the day, have been 
English noblemen. Education and plenty help a 
good man to be better, and a bad man to be worse. 
It is clear enough that character is deeper than 
genius, or education, or politeness ; that salvation 
does not depend upon good food or the lack of it ; 
and that redemption is not to be sought in culture, 
for the most polished minds have been possessed 
alternately by the worst and the best of men. 

'' Until society wakes to seek after something 
outside itself it will be neither beautiful nor eternal. 
It is all well enough to move for the erection of all 
sorts of structures to serve as centers of good in- 
fluence. Make better school houses ; enlarge the 
libraries; they need it.. But what will you say to 
a dying man in the hospital? Even the hospital 
can do no more for him. The art gallery won't 
help him, and books wont restore him. ^ ^ ^ 
Beef broth will not keep him up. It can't give 
him new lungs or a second brain. There is just 
one thing that the man needs, and just one thing 
that he can take. He wants God.'' 

The memories of love are undying. Cherished 



50 MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

associations here ripen into deeds and attachments 
which bless each other and increase with years ; 
entwining the tendrils of love about the heart, and 
refusing to be severed by death. The poet says : 

*' Death may the bands of life unloose, 
But can't disolve our love." 

Palaces and castles crumble, earthly glory 
vanishes as the morning dew, and all earthly beauty 
and joy fades and falls like the flower; still there 
is something which lives, that eludes the grasp of 
death and with which we commune, even when it 
has passed before us to the skies. Love is eternal. 
We hear its gentle voice in our dreams, our hand 
feels its touch in our solitude, it keeps our feet 
from going astray ; and as we every year on this 
memorial day place the wreaths of flowers on the 
mounds which enclose the caskets, we know the 
'^gems have 'scaped away." 



19' 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 898 852 




